


Ever and After (and After the Ever After)

by Mo-Mouse (abyssmalDeath)



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Flashbacks, M/M, Violence, fluff in flashbacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:02:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8391829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abyssmalDeath/pseuds/Mo-Mouse
Summary: Death catches up with Soldier: 76 and holds him to his promises.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short drabble I worked on. I hope y'all like it!

“So nice to see an old face,  _ Jack _ .” Reaper’s voice chilled the old soldier to the bone. No one had called him that in six years. Even then, no one knew it was him behind the visor in the first place. He had been presumed dead right alongside Gabriel Reyes, the way it should have been. Instead he was here, clutching at an empty pulse rifle like it was his lifeline with his visor ripped off and smashed somewhere,staring at the mysterious being known as the Reaper. He swallowed thickly. 

“No one has called me by that name in six years, Reaper. How do you know my name?” he rasped, voice worn out from age and dust as the collapsed building settled around them. In place of an answer, Reaper gave him a cold laugh and slowly walked forward, not stopping until he was only a couple feet from where Jack was crouched on the floor. He kneeled down in front of him, cocking his head a little to the left in a way that was achingly familiar to the soldier but he couldn’t place it. 

“Perhaps we need to take a little walk down memory lane, Jack.” With that, Reaper reached up, hooking two claws under his mask and pulling it to the side to expose his face. Jack’s heart dropped into his stomach and he stumbled backwards, shaking his head. Under Reaper’s mask was a face that Jack was so familiar with, he could have drawn it from memory if asked to. He reached out as if to touch the mottled, rotting skin but withdrew, shaking his head. His stomach was turning almost painfully. 

“Gabriel. Is it really you?” He continued to stare, eyes blown wide as he tried to find something that would reveal this disguise. He found nothing. Gabriel’s skin was perhaps a little more pallid and falling away in some areas, but the scars were still there. Jack had spent many nights tracing those scars, committing them to memory.

“ _ Sí.  _ Have you forgotten me already?” The grin that Reaper gave was full of malice and, for the first time in several years, Jack felt true fear strike through him

_ John “Jack” Morrison was a man with little room left for fear. He had spent the past eighteen years working his family’s farm and if that didn’t build a boy’s courage, he couldn’t tell you what would. Despite all of this, nothing could have prepared him for his first year in the military. Bootcamp was fine. Training was fine. Combat was  _ not  _ fine. Jack remembered waking numerous times during the night screaming because of the images that flashed in his dreams. One time, it caused his bunkmate to throw a canteen at his face.  _

_ “Shut  _ up, cabron _ ,” the man growled, voice half-thick with sleep. “If you keep waking me up in the middle of the night, you’re really going to have something to have nightmares about.” He rolled over to go back to sleep but Jack, in all his infinite wisdom, was too upset to just let him go peacefully. Instead, he picked the canteen up and threw it right back at him, pegging him nicely in the back of the head with a solid  _ thunk _.  _

_ If anyone asked, Jack most certainly did not shriek like a little girl when the man, who he would later come to know as Gabriel Reyes, ripped his covers back and half-dragged the blonde kicking and screaming out of his bunk to start some sort of sleep-deprived slap fight.  _

_ Somehow, that night ended with neither of them knowing where one body began and the other ended. _

“You are dead, Gabriel. I saw your body. You’re supposed to be six feet under!” Jack snarled, wrenching himself to a sitting position and swinging the butt of his rifle at Reaper’s head. To his horror, the man in front of him dissipated like smoke before reforming, clicking his tongue in disappointment.

“Still as predictable as ever, Jackie. What have you been doing for the past six years? Did I teach you nothing,  _ cabron _ ?” Reaper lunged forward, grabbing Jack by his throat and slamming him into the ground. Jack was left gasping, not only from the force that he hit the ground with but also from how cold Gabriel’s hand was. He reached up, clawing desperately at the talons digging into the skin under his jaw. 

“Please,” he wheezed, “please Gabe. I know you’re still in there. You don’t have to do this.” Jack felt the pain that accompanied the knife-sharp tips of Gabriel’s claws as they broke his skin and the warmth of the blood that followed after as it trickled down the side of his neck.

“Don’t I? You left me for dead, Morrison. You saw your chance to escape and you took it like the coward you always were. Well, guess what, Jack? You’re not getting away this time.” Reaper’s face contorted into one of pure rage as he ripped his claws away, causing Jack to jerk his head to the side and hiss in pain. 

_ “We can’t stay here forever, Gabe. Our mission ends tomorrow and then we’re back to Overwatch. We won’t be Jack and Gabe anymore. We will be Reyes and Morrison.” Jack’s voice was solemn as he spoke, words barely carrying above the crashing waves that broke the surface five feet away from them. Gabriel was stretched out next to him on the blanket, staring at the moon. At Jack’s words, he turned his gaze back to the blonde.  _

_ “We could run away. Leave it all behind. Just you and me, Jackie. We could go wherever you wanted to and we wouldn’t have anyone breathing down our necks about being the best soldiers.” It was wishful thinking and Gabriel knew it, but he still wanted to have some shred of hope that Jack would someday say yes to the question he’s been asking since the day they got out of the SEP. It was nights like tonight that Gabe wished more than ever that Jack would take him up on his word. The nights that they had to themselves, where they  _ were _ just Jack and Gabe against the world. Something painful contracted his chest when Jack’s tired gaze met his own. He knew what he was going to say before he even said it. _

_ “I wish we could, Gabe. You know how impossible that is. Let’s not have this conversation tonight, though. We will have the next eighty years to figure this out.” Gabriel didn’t have time to reply as Jack rolled on top of him, hips slotted so nicely against his own and friction so inviting as the smaller man rutted shamelessly against him in slow movements. Those impossibly blue eyes came into view as Jack leaned down and kissed him softly, his fingers moving to tangle in Gabe’s curls. The rest of the night was spent tangled in each other's limbs, the waves doing little to dampen the noise of their pleasure. _

Jack was pretty sure his nose was broken. Pain blossomed outwards in sporadic pulses from where Reaper had slammed his fist into his nose. His nasal passages were definitely clogged with blood and he was forced to breath from his mouth. He had tried to get through to the Gabriel he knew, but his words fell on deaf ears and just made it worse for himself. He coughed painfully, breath getting caught in his throat. 

“Gabe...Gabriel... _ please _ ,” he begged, voice barely above a whisper. Reaper had removed his mask completely so Jack was faced with the horrifying gaze of a man he had once loved. 

Red eyes. Smoke and ash leaking through the holes in his cheeks or between his teeth whenever he exhaled. Tears flowed freely down Jack’s face, creating streaking trails through the blood. 

“I always did love it when you cried. Made your eyes all starry,” he cooed, bringing his hand up to caress Jack’s cheek. The soldier flinched away, letting out a strangled cry when the motion jarred something in his rib cage. Reaper laughed, trailing a claw down Jack’s jaw, pulling an involuntary whimper from him. The beast leaned forward, brushing his lips across the blonde’s. Jack blanched.

“Don’t...” Jack started trembling, feeling a surge of emotion as his feelings for Gabriel started breaking through his carefully placed barriers. The kiss was achingly familiar. It was still Gabriel’s lips on his own, muffling his protests with all the tenderness that Jack had grown to know and love. He drew in a shuddering breath, shivering at how  _ cold _ Gabriel was. 

“You’re a fucking liar if you are trying to say you don’t miss me, Jackie. You do miss me, don’t you? Ah. Do you remember the night before the big promotion ceremony? Do you remember what you said to me?” Reaper’s voice had changed, smoothing out into the voice that Jack still heard in his dreams. He drew in a shuddering breath, the motion causing him to cough as more blood tried to fill his lungs. Of course he remembered. 

_ Jack hadn’t been able to sleep that night. The ceremony to reveal the new leader of Overwatch was tomorrow, and he had high hopes for Gabriel. They were both up for promotion, but Jack hadn’t performed nearly as well as Gabriel on his tests. He supposed that was why he found himself padding to Gabriel’s quarters in the middle of the night, knocking on the door and waiting. The door slid open, and Jack was greeted with the sight of a sleep-ruffled Gabriel. He immediately felt bad. _

_ “Is something wrong, Jackie?” Gabriel’s voice was husky with sleep, and the sound of it went straight to his groin. He cleared his throat a little, rubbing the back of his neck as he shuffled in place. Gabe’s expression fell into one of sleepy amusement.  _

_ “I told you,  _ cabron, _ if you keep waking me up in the middle of the night, I’m going to give you something to have nightmares about. Come on in, this is about the ceremony tomorrow isn’t it?” He stepped aside, and Jack graciously walked in, nodding a little.  _

_ “Yeah. Uh...yeah,” he mumbled intelligently, pushing his fingers through his hair. He decided he needed to get it trimmed for the ceremony tomorrow, but the thoughts left his mind as Gabriel pulled him into his lap after sitting on the bed. His lips burned like a brand against his neck, but Jack had never felt more comfortable.  _

_ “Talk to me, baby. What’s bothering you?” Gabriel murmured, nosing along his jaw. Jack relented, tilting his head back and curling his hands over Gabriel’s, which were around his waist. He leaned back against him, melting against his body.  _

_ “I’m just nervous, I guess. You will be an amazing commander, Gabe, and I would follow you to the ends of the earth. I’ll always be by your side. Sorry I know that’s cheesy but...it’s the truth. I’ll never leave you, Gabriel.” Jack turned in the man’s grip, not giving him a chance to respond as he surged forward, crushing their lips together. The night was not one that Jack was likely to forget any time soon.  _

“I guess ‘always’ doesn’t cross over into death, does it, Jackie? I suppose that only applied  _ before _ you stole Overwatch from me, though,” Reaper snarled, face mere centimeters from Jack’s. The old soldier closed his eyes, exhaling shakily. The tears were flowing freely now, as were the broken noises that pried themselves from his throat.

“I thought you were dead, Gabe! You think I didn’t try to help you? You think I didn’t risk everything to pull you out of there? I tried!” Jack yelled, thrashing painfully in Reaper’s grip. He managed to get a little leverage, throwing Reaper off of him and pulling himself painfully to his hands and knees. He coughed, the motion unpleasant against his battered rib cage. He didn’t get enough time though: Reaper barreled back into him from out of nowhere, knocking him onto his side and leaving him gasping for breath.

“You’re a terrible liar. Always have been! Without that damned visor of yours, I can read every emotion that crosses your face. The fear. The anger. The hurt.” Gabriel had pinned him again, pressing his knees into his Jack’s arms to hold him down. This time, Jack didn’t have the energy to push him off. He simply succumbed, letting his eyes slide shut as Gabriel loomed over him. 

“Can’t we just get this over with, Gabe? If you’re going to kill me, just do it.” Jack’s voice betrayed him, breaking on the last word as a fresh wave of tears started. He cleared his throat, swallowing thickly against the lump that formed there. He still loved Gabe. With his eyes closed, he could picture it was still his Gabe above  him. He was faintly aware of the sound of glass shattering, of muffled yelling. He was succumbing to the darkness that seemed to be calling his name but he swore he heard Reaper telling him he’d wait for him before the weight on his chest was gone and he was being checked over by someone with a bright light. He drifted off with Gabriel’s name on his lips. 

“He’s gone. Reaper did too much internal damage for me to repair. This time, it’s not a hoax. John ‘Jack’ Morrison is dead.”

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks to my lovely beta, Midnightluck. Without her, my works would be a mess, so thank you!
> 
> Tumblr: mo-mouse.tumblr.com  
> OW Tumblr: elizarenot.tumblr.com


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